


A Final Dance

by HellHathNoFury



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, I DIDN'T MEAN TO DO THIS TO THEM, I swear, I'm so sorry, JUST, Set 50-ish years after the end of campaign one, major feels, post-post canon, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-09
Updated: 2018-04-09
Packaged: 2019-04-20 20:52:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14269302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HellHathNoFury/pseuds/HellHathNoFury
Summary: Years have passed, blonde hair has turned gray and physical strength has given way to wisdom, for some rather more rapidly than others.Humans tend to burn bright, but not very long, and Kima has to come to terms with the fact that she might not have Allura at her side for much longer.





	A Final Dance

**Author's Note:**

> So I have been working on this fic for weeks but kept putting it off because it made me cry, a lot, but then this very topic came up in the c2e2 panel this weekend and I saw it as a sign that I needed to finish this. So I did.
> 
> Enjoy, I guess?

Kima sat huddled in a large, highbacked chair, trying to read her book by the limited sunlight filtering in through the gap between the curtains. There were plenty more suitable spaces for reading within the tower but she preferred to be here, next to Allura. Besides, she had been staring at the same page for over an hour now and better lighting wasn’t going to help fix that.

The quiet of the room was interrupted by a sudden painful and rasping cough.

Kima threw the book to the side and quickly made her way over to their bed.

‘Shh, shh,’ she soothed, running her hand up and down Allura’s back, hoping to ease her breathing, simultaneously slipping some healing magic into the touch.

Eventually, Allura’s breathing steadied and Kima felt her own get a little easier too.

She decided to leave her book for what it was and instead climbed onto the bed next to her wife.

Gently, she reached out and brushed a silver lock of hair away from Allura’s forehead. A single tear escaped her carefully guarded control, rolled down her nose and darkened the blue fabric of Allura’s nightgown.

'Kima?' Allura croaked, her voice barely more than a whisper, soft and fragile.

'It's me, love. I'm right here.' She gingerly took Allura's hand between her own, tracing the blue veins standing out against pale, parchmentlike skin, pressing a kiss against it.

'You're crying again,' Allura said, blue eyes gazing up at her softly, reaching up a shaky hand to wipe Kima's tears away.

'Am I?' The words sounded choked even to her own ears. She leaned into Allura's touch, letting it comfort her while at the same time it deeply saddened her.

Allura nodded, stroking Kima's cheek with her thumb. 'Come lay down with me. One last time.'

'Don't say that, Allie.' Her tears really started flowing now, but still she complied with Allura's wishes (she never could say no to her) and laid down next to her, cuddling into her side. 'We have all the time in the world together.'

'That we do.' Another coughing fit overtook Allura. The sound raspy and grating and making Kima cringe. Silently she called on Bahamut and sent another burst of healing magic into Allura's chest, knowing it wasn't enough but hoping to ease her pain at least a little.

'Thank you, dear,' Allura said as she regained control of her breathing.

_I just wish I could do more._

'You've done enough, my love.'

Kima wasn't certain if she had said the thought out loud or if Allura could read it from her posture.

'This is one thing no one can cure. Death comes for us all one day, and I have had many of them.' Allura chuckled. 'And I was lucky enough to spend most of them with you. I...' Another rattling cough shook her body.

Kima got up and poured her a glass of water, helping Allura sit up enough to drink it.

Allura smiled at her, and Kima felt like a young girl again: age hadn’t diminished Allura’s beauty one bit. When they first met, a lifetime ago, Kima didn't think the blonde wizard had any business on a battlefield, she had been proven wrong soon after when Allura completely incinerated a worg and its rider with a flick of her hand. Kima had fallen in love with her right there and then. And it hadn't faded over the years, even the ones they weren't together.

'I love you too,' Allura whispered, seemingly reading Kima’s thoughts again as she pulled her back against her.

Kima smiled through her tears. 'I know.'

'You know,' Allura finished. She lifted a shaking hand in the air, tracing unseen sigils while muttering under her breath.

Kima sucked in an unsteady breath as soft music began to fill the room, coming from no visible source, just Allura’s magic. Despite the many years that had passed since, Kima recognized the song immediately, once upon a time it had played at their wedding.

Allura traced a second set of glyphs and the single ray of sunlight in the room bent and twisted to form two small glowing figures, one tall, one short. The pair danced together to the beat of the music, swirling around, intertwined, treading nothing but air.

They watched the lights dance together, Kima safely tucked in Allura's embrace, listening to the sweet music filling the room.

Allura's breathing grew shallow again. Cutting, rasping sounds flitting between the notes of the song.

Kima poured every last spark of her magic into Allura but the labored breathing remained. Tears began to flow freely down her face.

'I love you, Allie,’ she whispered, kissing Allura’s temple, her lips lingering for much longer than she usually would.

The music continued to play, the lights continued to dance, but the labored breathing ceased.

Kima let out a shuddering breath, her eyes shut tightly as she tried to bury herself deeper into Allura's embrace, her final embrace.

After a few minutes, she raised herself up on her knees and drew her hand over Allura's face, closing unseeing blue eyes. She pressed one final kiss to Allura's lips, only then climbing off the bed. Leaving the song to play to its end, and the images to finish their dance.

* * *

The realization that Allura was truly gone struck her rather suddenly, the night before the funeral.

For the past few days she had been busy making arrangements, and with her mind occupied it was easy to put her feelings out of play. But none of that mattered when she returned home that night and the large circular platform in their entryway didn’t rise up as usual when she tapped it with her foot, staying firmly in place instead, its runes no longer glowing.

Kima understood at once that without Allura to reenchant it, the magic had worn off. It seemed the tower itself was missing the presence of its mistress.

She fell to her knees in the middle of the disenchanted platform, and let her tears fall freely for the first time since Allura’s passing. She cried until no more tears would come, and even then, she couldn’t find the strength to get up.

For the past fifty years they had never been separated longer than a couple of weeks at the time, and even then they had stayed in contact via letters and more magical means, but now that was no longer possible. Allura was gone, forever, and no force in the universe could bring her back to her.

That was when the letter arrived, sliding underneath the door at precisely that moment as if by magic. Sealed by a familiar blue wax seal and written by a familiar hand.

_"To my love"_

Kima let out a shaky sigh and looked up at the ceiling. 'How do you manage to surprise me even from beyond the grave?'

She traced the ridges in the seal for a moment - the letters AV enclosed within the sigil of Emon – before breaking it.

_'My dearest Kima,_

_I don’t know when you will receive this letter, but I fear it might be sooner than either of us would want. At this point in my life, my health has begun to fail me, and there are no spells or potions potent enough to restore it._

_The nearby inevitability of my death doesn’t sadden me, I lived a long and wonderful life. Mostly thanks to you being at my side for a good three quarters of it. You eased my greatest pains and amplified my greatest joys. I loved every single day I got to spent with you, never doubt that, my love._

_I know you always expected to go before me, probably taking some insurmountable evil down with you. Selfishly, I am glad I got to spend my last days with you, still, I am sorry I won’t be there for yours._

_That said, don't do anything stupid now I am no longer there to send rescue missions your way. I will be waiting up here for you, but I don't expect to see you within 50 years. Any less and I will be severely disappointed. Life is a gift, Kima, and you’re going to have to enjoy it for the both of us now._

_I would say I love you, but you already know that._

_Goodbye, my love. I will see you again. I know I will._

_Forever yours, Allie"_

Her tears started to blur the ink and Kima quickly wiped her eyes to avoid erasing Allura’s final message to her. She wished she could say old age had made her soft, but Allura had always had this effect on her. Even in the very beginning.

'I'll see you again,' Kima whispered, tightly clutching the golden ring now strung next to her holy symbol. 'And I'll try to keep the stupidity to a minimum. But you know me. I'll always do stupid things.'

She slipped the letter into her breast pocket, close to her heart and climbed spiral staircase up to their room. Allura wanted her to live, so live she would.

* * *

Kima wore her armor to the funeral, she had more formal clothes, clothes more suited for the occasion, but she needed all the strength she could get today. It was the same golden set she had once retrieved from the Underdark. It felt fitting to wear it now, surrounded by the group of people who had once rescued her from that very place, the same people Allura had sent for her.

All of Vox Machina was in attendance - its members grayed and wizened - together with most of Emon.

While Allura hadn’t served on the city council in many years, she remained beloved by its residents and her loss had been felt throughout all distracts. Many had come out today to pay their respects.

Kima looked around the large group of people that had assembled around the pyre, spotting close friend and stranger alike. Allura had had an impact on the lives of all these people, and Kima couldn’t help but smile at the thought. In the minds of these people, as well as her own, Allura would live on, she would never be forgotten.

A priest handed her a lit torch, and as a single tear rolled down her cheek she thrust it between the dry wood and watched the flames catch, enveloping the embroidered blue shroud until there was nothing left but a single trail of smoke, which curled up towards the heavens, bending and twisting to form two small figures, dancing together on nothing but air.

**Author's Note:**

> If in lieu of this fic you want to yell at me (which I fully understand, but please keep in mind that I made myself suffer the most as I cried the entire time while writing this) please leave a comment or scream at me on tumblr: [@writersblockisabitch](http://writersblockisabitch.tumblr.com)
> 
> Thank you for reading and I promise I will never write something this sad again!


End file.
